pugnacity

American  

[puhg-nas-i-tee] / pʌgˈnæs ɪ ti /

Also pugnaciousness

noun

1. readiness to quarrel or fight; combative or argumentative character.

   She was always defending him against the fallout from his pugnacity and lack of social graces.

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Etymology

Origin of pugnacity

First recorded in 1600–10; from Latin pugnācitās “combativeness,” equivalent to pugnāci-, stem of pugnāx “combative” + -tās -ty ² ( def. )

Explanation

Pugnacity, or a natural disposition to be aggressive or belligerent, isn't considered a flattering quality for a person to have. Then again, if you're a boxer, politician, or lawyer, that feistiness might actually come in handy. Pugnacity comes from the Latin word pugnare, which means to fight. The word pugnacity almost looks like it has the word "nasty" in it, which is fitting since a pugnacious person is one who can be nasty or belligerent. Another way to remember its meaning is to associate the word "city" tucked inside it, with the nature of cities, where people are known to be unfriendly and kind of aggressive.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pugnacity

I am not persuaded by this criticism—the idea that Jaffa’s famous pugnacity arose from his Straussian ideas rather than his personality strikes me as tendentious.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025

His famous pugnacity became trained more and more on members of his own party, and his own constituents, than on Republicans.

From Slate ● Nov. 22, 2024

No one loved to use Harry M. Reid’s past as an amateur middleweight as a metaphor for his political pugnacity more than Mr. Reid himself.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 29, 2021

In an early demonstration of his political pugnacity, Reid had demanded during the campaign that Laxalt release his family’s financial interests.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 28, 2021

Something, indeed, of the native pugnacity which his friends ascribe to him seems to show itself in his allusions to contemporaries, including even Wordsworth.

From Oxford Lectures on Poetry by Bradley, Andrew Cecil